Tie-frame for securing a rectangular assemblage of typographic material



Sept. 8, 1959 J. OSTMANN 2,902,932

TIE-FRAME FOR SECURING A RECTANGULAR ASSEMBLAGE OF TYPOGRAPHIC MATERIAL Filed Aug. 27, 1956 [N VEN TOR Jan flstmnzb ATTORNEYS United States Patent TIE-FRAME FOR SECURING A RECTANGULAR ASSEMBLAGE OF TYPOGRAPHIC MATERIAL Jan Ostmann, Amsterdam, Netherlands, assignor of onehalf to Gustaaf Adolf Frisch, Amsterdam, Netherlands Application August 27, 1956, Serial No. 606,348

Claims priority, application Netherlands September 8, 1955 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-404) The invention relates to a tie-frame for securing a rectangular assemblage of typographic material, i.e. to means for holding together in compact relationship the separate units of printers type or other typographic material assembled in solid rectangular form, such as a type-page or other typographic composition. Such means are required to prevent the assemblage from falling apart when being lifted or moved.

To tie up a type-page or the like for the purpose above described it is customary to enclose the type-page in four straight side-pieces or leads placed fiat against the four sides of the composite type-page perpendicular to the printing surface and to tightly wind a cord a number of turns around the four side-pieces. Such side-pieces have a small width of e.g. l continental pica and a height somewhat less than type height, preferably equal to that of standard spaces and rules. The compositor usually has a great number of side-pieces in a variety of stand ard lengths at his disposal so that he may select four side-pieces having lengths in accordance with the length and width of the type-page to be secured. The side pieces when placed around the type-page preferably abut one another, the ends of two side-pieces overlying the ends of the other two with their end faces flush with the outer side faces of the latter.

When the type-page thus secured by the compositor is to be locked up in the chase for the printing operation, the cord has first to be removed. After the printing operation, the cord has to be rewound around the typepage before the latter can be removed from the chase to allow it to be lifted and moved as a whole without disintegrating.

The present invention has for its main object to provide a tie-frame for securing a rectangular assemblage of typographic material which obviates the use of the above described cord and the disadvantages connected therewith in that the frame may remain in its place around the assemblage from the moment it is applied thereto by the compositor to the moment the assemblage is taken apart after the printing operation and its removal from the chase to distribute or melt the units of typographic material the assemblage consists of.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a tie-frame which can be quickly and easily arranged around the assemblage and removed again.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a tie-frame which comprises side-pieces of standard dimensions which may also be used by the compositor as leads or spaces in the customary way.

Still another object is to provide a tie-frame of the kind described Which is cheap in manufacture, simple of construction and durable in use.

The tie-frame according to the invention generally comprises four separate side-pieces adapted to enclose an assemblage of typographic material, such as a typepage, on its four sides, and four corner clips each having two legs set at a right angle which fit counter sunk in lon- 2,902,932 Patented Sept. 8, 1959 gitudinal slots, provided in the outwardly facing side faces of the side-pieces at the ends of the latter. The legs of these corner clips and the side-pieces are further provided with coacting locking means adapted for releasable engagement thereby to allow to connect the ends of the side-pieces meeting at a right angle at each corner of the assemblage by inserting the corner clips into the respective slots. These locking means preferably consist of a hole or recess in the bottom of each longitudinal slot and an inward cam-like projection on the end of each leg of the corner clips adapted to snap into the recess.

Because the corner clips lie counter sunk in the slots of the side-pieces, they need not be removed when the tied-up assemblage is mounted on the chase.

When the side-pieces are so chosen and arranged that the end faces of two side-pieces lie flush with the outwardly facing sides of the other two side-pieces, which is preferably the case, these end faces must be provided with transverse slots so as to obtain a continuously compound slot in which a corner clip can be placed, which compound slot thus comprises a longitudinal slot in one side-piece, the transverse slot in the end face of the adjoining side-piece and, at a right angle therewith, a longitudinal slot of the latter.

Other features and advantages of the invention will ap pear more fully from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing showing by way of example an embodiment of a tie-frame according to the invention.

Figure l is a perspective view of the tie-frame enclosing a printers type-page, one of the corner clips being shown in a position just before it fully engages the sidepieecs concerned;

Figure 2 represents on an enlarged scale a horizontal cross-section on the line II-II of Fig. 3 of a corner of the tie-frame;

Figure 3 is a side View of the corner section shown in Fig. 2 with the corner clip removed;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a corner clip; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of a side-piece.

In Figure 1 a rectangular type-page 1, composed of schematically indicated individual typographical units, is secured by a tie-frame enclosing the type-page 1 on its four sides and comprising four straight side-pieces or leads 2, connected by four identical corner clips 4. Two long side-pieces 3 have a length substantially equal to the length of the type-page and the two short-pieces 2 have a length substantially equal to the sum of the breadth of the type-page plus twice the thickness of a side-piece so that the end faces of the side-pieces 2 are flush with the outwardly facing sides of the side-pieces 3. As shown, the side-pieces are placed in the usual manner upright flat against the sides of the type-page.

The side-pieces 2 and 3 are made of metal, such as lead or light metal, and are of similar standard cross-section having a width of, for instance, one cicero or continental pica and a height somewhat less than type height, just as the normal leads used in composing, so that when the page-tie and the side-pieces are assembled on a flat surface, the upper sides of the latter lie below the printing surface.

The compositor may have a large stock of side-pieces of various standard lengths at his disposal allowing him to select therefrom four side-pieces having sizes in accordance with the dimensions of the type-page to be tied-up.

The side-pieces 2 and 3 are each provided in their outwardly facing sides with two slots or grooves 6 extending longitudinally from either end of each side-piece. However, instead of two slots 6 a single continuous slot 6' may be used running from one end of the side-piece to in the bottom of each slot 6 and at a distance from the end of the side-piece which is equal for all side-pieces 2, 3 a through-hole 8 has been bored having a diameter equal to the width of the slot.

The corner clips 4 are made of flat strips of spring metal bent into hook form with two legs 9 and of unequal length set at a right angle. The strips have a width and thickness corresponding to the width and depth of the slots 6 and 7 so as to fit closely and countersunk in these slots. The ends of the legs 9 and 10 are bent inwardly through a right angle and are pressed into a rounded shape as shown in Figure 4 so as to form inwardly projecting cams 11 adapted to engage in the holes 8. The legs 10 of the corner clips 4 have the same length as the slots 6 as measured from the ends of the sidepieces to the edges of the holes 8. The legs 9 are longer than the legs 10, the difference in length substantially corresponding to the thickness ofthe side-pieces minus the depth of the slots. As shown more clearly in Figure 2, .a corner clip 4 may thus be placed in the slots 6, '7 of the abutting ends of two side-pieces 2 and 3 with the cams 11 engaging the forward wall portion of the holes 8 so as to somewhat resiliently and clampingly hold these ends together.

A clip which proved to function satisfactorily was made from a strip of spring steel having a width of one cicero and a thickness of a third cicero. The leg 19 had a length of approximately 2 cicero and the leg 9 a little under 3 cicero. The height of the cams 11 was half a cicero.

To assemble the tie-frame around the type-page 1, the side-pieces 2 and 3 are first placed fiat against the sides of the latter whereafter the corner clips 4 are one by one mounted in their respective slots. This can be done by inserting the cam 11 of the short leg 10 of a clip 4 in the hole '8 of a side-piece 2 and, with this clip in the position as shown in Figure 1,,by exerting suflicient pressure on the corner portion of the clip to make the cam on the long clip leg 9 snap over the edge of the hole 8 in the side piece 3. The tie-frame thus assembled secures the typepage sufiiciently tight to prevent it from falling apart when it is lifted or otherwise moved. Because the corner clips and their cam portions are resilient, the tie-frame allows for small variations in the size of the type-page which are unavoidable.

The countersunk corner clips can be left in their slots during the printing operation and can thereafter be easily removed by inserting a 'bodkin or similar tool into the holes 8 and pushing the cams therein outwards.

The side-pieces can be made from standard leads by a simple milling and drilling operation to obtain the slots 6 and 7 and the holes 8. These slots and holes do not prevent them from being used as ordinary leads should the need arise. Although in the example shown in the drawing the slots 7 in the endfaces of the side-pieces 3 are not used, they are nevertheless provided in case these sidepieces are to be employed to form a tie-frame of different size in which they take the top and bottom positions of the side-pieces 2.

While the invention has been described in connection with the embodiment shown in the drawing, it will be obvious that other embodiments may be resorted to within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is: r

1. A tie-frame for securing a rectangular assemblage of typographic material, such as a typographic composition, comprising four side-pieces adapted to enclose such an assemblage on its four sides in a position in which the end faces of two opposite side-pieces abut the inwardly facing side walls of the other two side-pieces and the end faces of the latter are substantially flush with the outwardly facing walls of the former, said sidepieces each having in their outwardly facing walls a longitudinal slot at both of their ends end a transverse slot in their end faces, said slots all being shallow relative to the thickness of said side-pieces and being located at the same height substantially midway Of the height of the side-pieces, and four corner clips each made of a flat strip of spring metal bent so as to form two straight legs set at a right angle, said corner clips fitting countersunk in the respective meeting slots of two adjoining side-pieces, the inner surface of said clips conforming to the bottom of said meeting slots, the ends of the legs of said corner clips being provided with cam-like projections and the side-pieces being provided with recesses adapted to receive said cam-like projections, said recesses and said projections having interengageable gripping surfaces to retain said clips in snug engagement with said meeting slots for releasably and clampingly connecting the adjoining ends of the side-pieces and minimizing distortion of said sidepieces out of a rectangular configuration when arranged around said typographic assemblage.

2. The tie-frame of claim 1 in which the recesses in said side-pieces are situated at the same distance from the respective ends of the side-pieces and in which the corner slips have legs of unequal length, the difference in length corresponding to the thickness of the sidepieces minus the depth of the slots therein.

3. A tie-frame for securing a rectangular assemblage of typographic material such as a typographic composition, comprising four side-pieces adapted to enclose such an assemblage on its four sides with the ends of said side-pieces being so disposed in abutting relationship as to provide four right angle external corners each coplanar with the adjoining walls, said side-pieces each having their outwardly facing surfaces slotted at the ends thereof to provide slots extending in both directions longitudinally from and meeting at each of said corners, said slots all being shallow relative to the thickness of said side-pieces and being located at the same height substantially midway of the height of the side-pieces, and four corner clips each made of a flat of spring metal ,ben-t so as to form two straight legs set at a right angle, said corner clips fitting countersunk in the respective meeting slots of two adjoining side-pieces, the inner surface of said clips conforming to the bottom of said meeting slots, the ends of the legs of said corner clips being provided with cam-like projections and the side-pieces being provided with recesses adapted to receive said cam-like projections, said recesses and said projections having interengageable gripping surfaces to retain said clips in snug engagement with said meeting slots for releasably and clampingly connecting the adjoining ends of the side-pieces and minimizing distortion of said sidepieces out of a rectangular configuration when arranged around said typographic assemblage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 807,424 Field Dec. 12, 1905 883,302 Domsgen et a1. Mar. 31, 1908 1,682,698 Williamson Aug. 28, 1928 2,194,812 Self Mar. 26, 1940 

